The Paintings of Moholy-Nagy: The Shape of Things to Come

Organized by the Santa Barbara
Museum of Art, this exhibitionis the first to explore how the practice
of painting served as the means for the artist to imagine generative
relationships between art and technology. László Moholy-Nagy (1895–1946) is now
recognized as one of the most influential members of the Bauhaus. While his
legacy for later 20th-century art is typically linked to the photogram (a type
of cameraless photography), the driving force behind this presentation is the
relatively under-recognized role of the more traditional medium of painting
throughout Moholy’s career, which is explored in a selection of 33 works of art
ranging in date from the 1920s to 1940s, including paintings, works on paper,
photograms, video projections, and a facsimile replica of Moholy’s prescient Light
Prop?one of the
first kinetic sculptures of its kind. The installation also includes a
Kodachrome slide set (the latest in color photography innovation at the time),
which comprises 12 luminous images.

Guest curated by art historian
Joyce Tsai (University of Florida, Gainesville), the exhibition is organized
chronologically and thematically, and is accompanied by a scholarly catalogue,
distributed by Yale University Press. The presentation also includes
educational interactives, related programming, and an unprecedented
installation by high-end designer Alex Rasmussen of Neal Feay.

The
exhibition was made possible through the generous support of the Tom and
Charlene Marsh Family Foundation, Cecille Pulitzer, SBMA Women’s Board, an
anonymous donor, Marcia and John Mike Cohen, Dead Artists Society, The Dwight
G. Vedder Family, Susan Bowey, Gregg Wilson and John Maienza, The David Bermant
Foundation, and The Moholy-Nagy Foundation.